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Stark/Baseball officials: "There's no way they would've offered Dunn arbitration"

• Dunn deal: Did Arizona give up too much (three players, presumably including Micah Owings) for Adam Dunn? The Reds based their asking price on the premise that Dunn will be a Type A free agent, so they needed to do better than two draft picks. But officials of two other teams say there's "no way" they would've offered Dunn arbitration. "There's a guy who, if you offer him arbitration, there's too good a chance he's going to take you up on it," one said.

Nevertheless, the Diamondbacks needed to add offense, especially left-handed-hitting offense. They're 13th in the league in hitting, and 11th in OPS, versus right-handers.

"He's a better player than people give him credit for," one scout said of Dunn. "People think he's just some lazy guy who can't do anything but hit the ball out of the park. He's better than that. He's a force. You have to make pitches on him. If you don't, he'll go long on you or he'll walk."

You have to make pitches on him. If you don't, he'll go long on you or he'll walk."

Eww

Walks are icky.

a super volcano of ridonkulous suckitude.

I simply don't have access to a "cares about RBI" place in my psyche. There is a "mildly curious about OBI%" alcove just before the acid filled lake guarded by robot snipers with lasers which leads to the "cares about RBI" antechamber though. - Nate

Within that same article Stark calls out Dusty Baker for pretty much absolving himself of any blame in the construction of this team.

Seeing Red: We've heard some buzzing lately, among baseball men, scouts and players, about a recent Dusty Baker quote on the Reds' troubles that sure looked like an attempt to absolve himself of all blame.

"I have never wanted to win more than I do right here, and I will," Baker told the Dayton Daily News' Hal McCoy. "But this is Wayne Krivsky's team, not Walt Jocketty's and not mine. I just hope there is enough out there after the season that we can get to help us."

Maybe we're not reading that right. But if we're misinterpreting it, suffice it to say we're not the only ones. And it appears Baker is saying that the Reds' disappointing record is his players' fault, and his former GM's fault, but not his own or his current GM's doing.

Well, obviously, Jocketty is only now beginning to put his stamp on this roster. And the players haven't exactly overachieved. But doesn't the manager bear some responsibility for this mess, too?

Scouts who have followed the Reds continually talk about their messy execution, their mediocre defense and their distinct lack of energy. There also has been plenty of second-guessing of Baker's lineup choices (particularly those 242 at-bats Corey Patterson has gotten).

And there is no shortage of people wondering whether Aaron Harang's forearm injury -- along with his 1-6, 8.49 slide in the past 2½ months -- might be a direct result of Baker's decision to allow him to throw 63 pitches in relief on two days' rest in a May 25 18-inning game, then start him on three days' rest immediately afterward.

Dusty Baker has many admirable traits. And this is not an attempt to heap all the blame on him. We're just saying that when teams like this fall apart, it's everybody's fault -- including the manager's.

• Dunn deal: Did Arizona give up too much (three players, presumably including Micah Owings) for Adam Dunn? The Reds based their asking price on the premise that Dunn will be a Type A free agent, so they needed to do better than two draft picks. [B]But officials of two other teams say there's "no way" they would've offered Dunn arbitration. "There's a guy who, if you offer him arbitration, there's too good a chance he's going to take you up on it," one said.

It's absolutely shocking to me how ignorant some people in major league front offices are. I'm guessing those two officials aren't from teams who put regular winners on the field.

Games are won on run differential -- scoring more than your opponent. Runs are runs, scored or prevented they all count the same. Worry about scoring more and allowing fewer, not which positions contribute to which side of the equation or how "consistent" you are at your current level of performance.

That's not the point of the article. The article is discussing whether or not Arizona overpaid. If the REDS were asking for something better than two top draft picks - the premise of the article was that if this was what the REDS were asking for should they have got it. Its a bad premise for the article in that it is valuing the trade of draft picks rather than the player traded.

Scouts who have followed the Reds continually talk about their messy execution, their mediocre defense and their distinct lack of energy. There also has been plenty of second-guessing of Baker's lineup choices (particularly those 242 at-bats Corey Patterson has gotten).

And there is no shortage of people wondering whether Aaron Harang's forearm injury -- along with his 1-6, 8.49 slide in the past 2½ months -- might be a direct result of Baker's decision to allow him to throw 63 pitches in relief on two days' rest in a May 25 18-inning game, then start him on three days' rest immediately afterward.

Dusty Baker has many admirable traits. And this is not an attempt to heap all the blame on him. We're just saying that when teams like this fall apart, it's everybody's fault -- including the manager's.

And it appears Baker is saying that the Reds' disappointing record is his players' fault, and his former GM's fault, but not his own or his current GM's doing.

I'm glad Stark brings this up. I'm sure this was covered in other threads, but since I wasn't around/online around the time this happened, I'll take this opportunity to say I can't believe Baker would pull this kind of BS. Very, very disappointing, and he drops several more notches in my estimation. He's the onfield leader, yet he goes and throws seemingly the whole squad under the bus while taking zero responsibility for the team's poor performance. I supported this guy strongly at the outset, and I've never really bashed any Reds manager, but I gotta say I hope the powers that be are looking at the manager position as one that could be upgraded.

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